Safe and Sound
by Karkalicious769
Summary: Because I was sleep-deprived and this happened. Basically, just my attempt at fluff in which Ciel has a nightmare (again), but luckily Sebastian is there to comfort him and keep his master somewhat sane. Also, this may contain some minor spoilers if you squint.


**A/N: I don't even know. I got this idea after listening to a thirty-two (yes, I checked) second clip from a song and this story just refused to leave me alone. So here, why the fuck not. I also added the lyrics from said clip just because I can. I mean, I realize that I could have linked the video but this was much more fun. Points if anyone can tell me the title of the song! Also, this takes place using the time line from the anime (just because I know that one better), just before their trip to Paris.**

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_My mind is always on you _

_You've got me caught in a place, _

_Panic for a minute _

_Got my brain in a daze,_

_I wish you weren't in it_

_There are so many ways,_

_To lose your attention _

_You can break everything,_

_But so what?_

_I can take anything._

Everything was dark.

Ciel could feel himself blinking rapidly out of impulse, trying to clear his vision, but it wasn't working. Clearly, this place, wherever he was, was just completely absent of light and his eyes were perfectly fine. Somehow, that thought terrified him more then discovering that he actually was temporarily blind. True, he had repeatedly said that he worked best in the shadows, and he really did prefer doing things that way, but there had always been something there to annoy or distract him, preventing him from completely drowning in the darkness.

This however, was the opposite.

The shadows seemed to have a mind of their own. He could feel them clawing at his clothes and pulling at his ankles, pushing closer to him and making it hard to breathe. Letting his survival instincts kick in, he began running, he had no idea where but anywhere was better then here. The utter blackness was already soaking his clothing, making the articles heavy, limiting his already clumsy movements and dragging him down further. For some reason, the blackness holding him felt... warm. Comforting even, like the forgotten embrace of a long lost parent. He felt his weary body relaxing, giving in to the warmth and ignoring his minds attempts to free himself.

That was when he realized he was dreaming.

Again.

Instead of relaxing him though, the thought made him fight harder.

_"Stop struggling, young one."_

He could could hear the words as if the speaker was right next to him, though he knew that no one was there. It was foolish and embarrassing to think such a thing.

_"Come, it's so much easier to give in."_

The feminine voice grew persistent, the warmth and patience that it used to hold evaporating quickly as the young Earl held tight to the stubbornness and determination he had inherited from his father, refusing to give the demonic women what she desired.

_"Why must you fight me? Don't you want to be happy?"_

One of those questions was very easy to answer. Normally, he would have responded in a heartbeat but in the land dreams and wishes, she could manipulate his thoughts to an extent. Ciel struggled through the fog she was clogging his mind with. He knew why he was fighting her. She was trying to stop him, clear his mind and soul of "impurities" but he didn't want that. His revenge took priority. After all, what kind of Earl would he be if he let someone walk all over him and get away with it? But the question about his happiness was trickier. Normally, he would have replied with a smart-ass answer about how the question was irrelevant or something of the sort, but something about the calmness encircling him was causing him to think. The women, feeling that maybe he wold side with her, stopped her forceful assault with the fabric of his dreams, allowing him to think.

How charitable.

Still, even with reality out of his reach at the moment, the answer came upon him swiftly, and Ciel smirked at how simple the answer to the question was and doubted himself after taking so long to

"No." he whispered, and though it was so quiet that he could barely hear it himself, the scene around him began to change drastically at the simple statement. He could feel her, and the anger and resentment she harbored towards him despite how tender her voice sounded. Not that the feeling was unfamiliar, for it had been directed at him so frequently that he often wondered why some people did like him at all in the first pace.

The women seemed to sense that there was no arguing with him, even in this ludicrous state, and in her anger, she struck out against the closest thing she could. Which just so happened to be him. He could feel her tightening her grip on his subconscious to the point that it actually hurt. Honestly, it seemed as if every single enemy of his was a sadist in one way or another. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to block her out to no avail.

Suddenly, there was a flash of bright light and though he could feel her leaving, it only made him even more wary. The light wasn't natural, but it was getting brighter, to the point that it almost blinded him even though his eyes were shut as tightly as he could. And as soon as it had come, it was gone, leaving an unfamiliar metal surface under his feet. With a suddenness that even kick-started his heart, Ciel realized where he was. Panic gripped him and he reached out and grabbed one of the imposing bars situated firmly in front of him. No, he couldn't stand to be here. Not again. Not after he finally escaped. But it was too late.

He was already there.

The bar stuck in his death grip was so cold it burned, but it didn't faze him, not after a month in freezing conditions at least. He even moved closer to the bars, clawing desperately at the air on the other side of the cage. This place was so familiar and the details seemed to sharpen into a much more clear picture the harder he tried to fight away the memory.

"It's time!" someone nearby shouted, sounding excited, "Go get the boy!"

Ciel froze. He recognized that voice. He knew they were talking about him. He was the only one they had left, after all. All the others had either died, been killed in one of their rituals, or been sold. Even after a month being passed from one crazy person to the next, he still couldn't take the idea of death. He couldn't die, he had to go home, to his mother and father. Surely they weren't _really_ dead, they had always been too strong for that. But if they weren't dead then why hadn't they come for him yet?

He shakes his head, focusing on trying to wake up. The dream was too lifelike. He was beginning to forget what was real and what wasn't.

"Alright, alright." another man grumbled, the clicking sound of heels on tile growing louder and snapping Ciel out of his daze. He approached the cage and for a second, Ciel was tempted to look up, but he had long learned not to make eye contact, so he didn't look to see who it was. There was the rustling of fabric and the jingling of metal keys before the man stuck one in the lock and opened the rusting door, causing an ugly squeal to echo through the room. He had once seen a boy try to escape by catching the man of guard and bolt for the door but he had barely made it ten steps before someone shot him. No one was very eager to escape after that.

Wordlessly, Ciel allowed the man to grab the front of his shirt and pull him roughly out of the cage. It was better to just give in instead of resisting, a lesson that most learned quickly simply out of fear of the punishment. The man smirked cruelly down at him, an expression he had come very familiar with in he past month. He yanked Ciel to his feet mercilessly and the too-thin boy stumbled on his feet. The feeling of standing and walking had become unfamiliar to him after all the time he spent shoved into that tinny cage in the fetal position.

Not waiting for Ciel to get his balance, probably because he didn't care, the well-dressed man grabbed his arm and yanked him out of the room, which Ciel was perfectly fine with. The dead bodies that the men had forgotten to remove from the other cages were starting to rot badly and smell.

The man lead him to an empty but well furnished room and forced him to lie down on the stone slab in the middle of it. He struggled and protested, suddenly willing to do anything to avoid the table, but the man was having none of it and he brutally forced Ciel down onto the table. Someone else placed a hand on his chest, pushing down so hard that his ribs felt as if they would crack under the pressure at any moment. All at once, his struggles ceased, air taking importance over getting up. Suddenly, the room was full of men, all expensively dressed, all of them wearing masks, and all of them laughing at him. Tears stung at the back of his eyes as the man above continued putting pressure on his chest, clearly overcome with excitement.

Ciel had expected the man to say something, but it appeared that everyone had already been informed of what would be taking place tonight, as they all continued laughing and jeering as the man brought a large carving knife over his head. There was a pause in which Ciel foolishly thought that maybe he would be able to live. Then the man, as if reading his thoughts, grinned sadistically and brought the knife down straight into his stomach. The force of the blow caused his body to jump slightly on the alter, for that's what it was, and he coughed up a bit of blood. It landed on his shirt, but it was barely noticeable next to the much brighter red pool slowly soaking his shirt.

For a second, Ciel just lay there, stunned. Some part of him knew that Sebastian should have appeared by now, answer the summoning, save his life, and eventually make a contract with him, and yet no one showed up. The crowd laughed even harder then ever, as if this was all some childish prank and he was the unwilling victim. It was then that he understood the full gravity of the situation. He had stopped moving completely after being stabbed and now he could feel the blood spreading over the table, coating his fingertips and dripping of the edge of the surface.

The sound was being amplified towards him and the cruel laughter faded into the back ground. There was the ghost of a presence next to him as she bent down and whispered into his ear with laughter in her voice, mocking him;

"_No one is coming for you, little one. It's time you realized how expendable you truly are."_

And then she was gone, leaving behind only a single, continuous thought in Ciel's mind. He twisted his head slowly and painfully to look up at the man who had stabbed him. He was now laughing with the crowd and waving his knife in the air maniacally.

"Se..." Ciel struggled to speak, feeling the blood trickling out of his wound and soaking his arm, "Seba..." the man looked down at him and grinned wickedly in delight.

"Oh, it looks like the little brat is trying to speak!" he shouted at the crowd, causing them to clap and cheer with glee. "Well, what is it little one?" he asked, bending down and pretending to listen.

Little one...

That was the nickname that she/em gave him...

Finding surprising strength of will just at the use of the nickname, both of Ciel's eyes snapped open and he screamed at the burning hot pain he was just now feeling in his stomach as the numbness of the dream finally vanished. Ignoring the white hot agony anyway though, he forced himself into a sitting position and shouted at the ceiling, "Sebastian!" The words burned in his throat, or maybe that was the blood, but either way, it felt good to scream.

He lunged forwards, eyes full of hate, towards the man with the knife, but just like that the scene vanished, replaced by a different, much more welcoming one.

He could feel silk sheets, soft and smooth to the touch, creasing with the force of his grip on them. The satin blankets were thrown in a messy disarray all over the bed and even onto the floor. The white nightgown he was wearing was tangled in between his legs in some places and riding up to his hip in others.

"Young master?" came a questioning but familiar voice from his left. Still pumping with adrenaline from the reoccurring dream, Ciel, acting purely on instinct, reached under his pillow and yanked out the gun he always kept there just for safe keeping, aiming at the head of the man who was reaching over to him. The man froze, hand in midair and ruby eyes widening slightly as Ciel clicked the safety off, his hands somehow staying steady even though the rest of his body was shaking badly.

"S-stay away." he warned, accidentally stuttering and coming across as a scared child instead of a cold-hearted killer, as he had intended.

The man sighed impatiently and he straightened, placing the candelabra on the nightstand before reaching towards him again and gripping his wrist softly but firmly. A part of him wanted to pull the trigger but something about the mans touch was incredibly intimate and safe and... warm, even through the white gloves he was wearing. Wordlessly, he pulled the gun from Ciel's grip and placed it on the nightstand before speaking again.

"Young master, you really must calm down," he said wearily, pulling Ciel towards him on the bed until his legs dangled of the edge, placing the young boy's tightly closed fist on his chest, "Honestly, all his over a nightmare? I thought you were above that." He gripped the boy's small chin in his free hand and gently tilted Ciel's head up towards his own, taking care not to brush their faces. "Now, say my name. I know you know it."

"Se..." Ciel swallowed thickly, breaking through the haze of his panic attack only to realize how close he was to the demon and how it affected him, "Sebastian..." he breathed softly in relief, tilting his head down and leaning into Sebastian's chest, ashamed at how he had acted after waking up. For some reason though, the solid mass under him was warm and it soothed him, especially since he could feel the faint pulse of a heart beat through the layers of clothing even though his butler wasn't technically alive.

"My lord?" Sebastian asked, clearly confused as to why Ciel was suddenly acting so... endearing, "Whatever is the matter?"

Ciel shook his head, though he didn't move from his position, "It's nothing, I just..." he trailed off, not knowing exactly what to say.

"You just what?" his butler asked, knowing not to pry to much into his master's business but risking it anyway, simply out of curiosity and amusement. It was just so much fun to tease the boy that he could hardly resist.

"It's nothing, I..." Ciel paused, considering his next words carefully, "I just can't seem to relax tonight. You can just..." he took a deep breath, "stay here until I fall asleep." he said finally, almost going so far as to add "please" at the end but restraining himself. He refused to meet his butler's calculating gaze.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. Ciel's words were clearly meant to be received as an order, but after years around humans and studying their habits, even his non-demon instincts could easily pick up the secret plea behind those words.

He smiled softly at what that plea really meant, surprised to find that the small boy had brought out the rarest of his facial expressions. A smile that was much different then his usual smirk. Softer somehow and much more alien, but the demon didn't at all mind it. It was... nice, to truly smile.

"Very well." he answered, successfully hiding his thoughts from the Earl as he proceeded to move off the bed, for he had somehow found himself sitting down on the plush covers, which went against his both his butler and demon aesthetic in completely different ways. But when he tried to stand, Ciel tightened his grip on Sebastian's shirt, subtly and with plenty of hesitation to spare, but with enough force that the demon noticed. Human fear certainly _was_ interesting.

This time he really did smirk, looking down at his tiny lord, shaking his head in mock disappointment, "My, whatever shall we do with you, young master?" he teased. Ciel didn't give a cocky retort like usual. Instead he blushed lightly and curled up into Sebastian's form, pulling his knees up against his chest. Entertained and also somewhat touched, which is a strange emotion for a demon, Sebastian reached over and put out the lights on his candelabra with a flick of his wrist, plunging the room into complete, but comforting, darkness.

Giving a content sigh, Ciel relaxed into the sheets, pressed against Sebastian's side as the butler absentmindedly played with the loose strands of his masters blue colored hair until, around two in the morning by his calculations, the young Earl finally fell into a dreamless sleep. It was one of the best night sleeps Ciel had experienced in a long, long time.

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**A/N: Okay, I tried my best to stick to their personalities but I probably failed miserably. At any rate, I hope you enjoyed!**


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